“The Unseen” gave me “Psycho” vibes because of the moodiness of the film. It also has backwoods overtones with this messed up family as well. I came across this movie randomly and liked it much better than I thought. This is seemingly an unknown early 80s horror film that deserves some lime light as it is quite sad and disturbing to watch at times.

The story involves three female reporters who are offered cheap room and board by shady museum owner Ernest Keller (Sydney Lassick) since all the local motels are full. This house isn’t as it is seems as there is a creepy figure in the basement that remains “unseen.” Judging from the plot alone, I knew this wasn’t going to be a bloody slasher due to the limited number of people around. Thankfully with such a limited plot, less was more for this flick.

The standout performance is from Syndey Lassick as Ernest Keller. He portrays the ill disturbed villain very well in his plight to seemingly keep his family hidden while killing the female reporters whom he invited in the house. Junior, “The Unseen”, played by Stephen Furst does a good job as the mentally challenged uneducated son of Ernest who is locked away in the basement. Jennifer, Ernest’s sister, is truly disturbed by her brother and the whole situation and does a convincing shy withdrawn character. Thankfully with all these depressing characters, the female reporters are rather likable.

I don’t have a favorite gory scene per se though I did like the hair being pulled down the air vent scene. My favorite large scene, because my reaction wasn’t as expected, was when Ernest traps Jennifer in the basement and we finally get to see what is down there. My reaction was not all as I expected. I expected to hate the “Unseen” but I had sympathy for him because Ernest had treated him like crap so his inability to speak a coherent language yet being pleasantly happy to see Jennifer was a surprise for me. Ernest was the real villain not Junior.

Overall, while not perfect, “The Unseen” is a pretty good movie. It can seem a bit slow at times but once it hits the climax I was glued to the seat. I give it 4 out of 5 stars for a worthy effort. This movie definitely deserves a few more views than it has had over the years. It has a 4.9/10 on IMDB